The lender was brought back from the brink in 2013 after a £1.5bn black hole had emerged in its books and was rescued by US hedge funds, although it said it made good progress by cutting its costs by over 20% by 2014,

The fallout from the scandal saw former chairman Paul Flowers step down in 2013, before pleading guilty to drug possession 12 months later. In January 2016, former chief executive Barry Tootell and former managing director Keith Alderson were banned by the Bank of England from holding senior positions in the industry.

Co-op bank, which has four million customers, reported an annual loss of £477m last month, bringing its cumulative losses over the last five years to more than £2.7bn.

Since failing the Bank of England's stress test in 2014, Co-op bank has been closely watched by regulators while it tries to restore its capital to an acceptable level.